Ventilated wall



March 4, 1952 w V| 2,587,702

VENTILATED WALL Filed June 25, 1949 INVENTOR. WILL/AM L. DAV/5 PatentedMar. 4, 1 952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in a ventilated walladapted for use in connection with an open-type chicken house and for 1other uses, and its principal object is to provide a wall of thecharacter described that will give;

the operator control over the elements, such as rain, sunshine and wind.

Open-type chicken houses, that is houses consisting merely of a floorand a roof with a suitable frame structure for supporting the roof havebeen found very much superior to the socalled closed type having asubstantially complete wall enclosure, since the open-type accommodatesmany more chickens per area, gives ample fresh air and ventilation andresults in healthier growth of the chickens.

I have found, however, that uncontrolled access of the elements such asrain, sunshine and wind may also prove very detrimental and evendisastrous in many cases.

In the present invention it is proposed to provided a wall structurethat combines all the advantages of the open-type chicken house with acontrol over the elements so that any desired portion of the house maybe closed against excessive sunshine or wind or rain, as the case maybe, while at the same time all the advantages of the open-type chickenhouse are retained.

More particularly it is proposed to provide a wall structure comprisinga series of tiltable slats, with suitable control means whereby theslats may be tilted to any desired position for limiting access of theelements to the inside of the chicken house.

It is further proposed to arrange the slat control means in such amanner that upon a closing movement the lower slats will close morequickly than the upper ones for principally excluding the elements fromthe lower portion of the chicken house while the upper portion stillremains open for a desired degree of ventilation.

It is additionally proposed to provide, in connection with the controlmeans, a certain amount of braking action which causes the slats to retain any inclined position to which they may have been adjusted.

And finally, it is proposed to provide a novel means for supporting theslats in spaced relation with respect to one another for common control.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will appear as thespecification proceeds, and the novel features of my invention will befully defined in the claims attached hereto.

The preferred form of the invention is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing, in which Figure 1 shows an outside view of a ventilated wallmade in accordance with my invention,

Figure 2, a section taken along line 2-2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3, a section taken along line 3 of Figure 1, on an enlargedscale,

Figure 4, a section taken along line 4-4 of Figure 1, on an enlargedscale, and

Figure 5, a detail sectional view taken along line 5-5 of Figure 1.

While I have shown only the preferred form of my invention, I wish tohave it understood that various changes and modifications may be madewithin the scope of the claims attached hereto without departing fromthe spirit of the invention.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the frame I may be considered partof a conventional frame structure for an open-type chicken house,including a horizontally disposed sill 2, a plate 3, and studdings 4supporting the plate 3 in elevated position over the sill 2.

The plate 3 has a pair of straps 5 suspended therefrom to form bearings6 for a shaft 1, the straps being adapted for being tightened upon theshaft by means of bolts 8' to produce a desired braking action on theshaft I.

A top slat 8 is secured upon the under side of the shaft 1 by suitablemetal straps 9 preferably secured in such a manner that the upper slatand the shaft I form a rigid unit rotatable about the axis of the shaft.7

A number of additional slats ID are suspended from the top slat 8 bymeans of opposing strips l I of canvas or similar suitable material, theslats being supported between the strips of canvas in such a manner asto run parallel to the top slat 8, and to tilt with the latter when anyone of the slats is tilted. The slats when in normal position arehorizontal and. are spaced sufficiently to admit almost unimpeded accessof air into the chicken house while exercising a certain degree ofcontrol over the sun rays, depending upon the position of thesun.

My particular fastening means, in connection with each slat, comprises abar l2 suitably secured upon the canvas as by rivets l3 and projectingbeyond both edges of the strips of canvas. Each of the projectingportions [4 of the bar carries an opposing pair of spring fingers l5adapted for engagement over opposite faces of the slats. Thespringiingers may be curved in their extremities and received in smallgrooves I6 in the'slats or in plates I! secured to the slats to hold thesame against sidewise movement.

It will be noted that in this manner each slat is capable of easyremoval for replacement purposes.

The two strips of canvas on opposite sides of the slat assembly extendbelow the latter and are suitably connected below the slat assembly toform a loop l8 adapted for training over a spool H) which latter isrevolvably mounted in brackets 20 secured upon the face of the sill 2 orany other appropriate portion of the frame. The spool shaft 2| ispreferably pivoted in one of the brackets as at 22 for outward swingingmovement while the other end of the spool shaft engages under a smallhook 23 formed in the other bracket. Thus the spool may be swung outwardupon being freed from the hook 23 for releasing the loop 18.

In operation it will be seen that the entire assembly may be readilysuspended from the plate 3 by means of the straps 5, which -may be madeto exercise a desired braking action on the shaft I by tightening up onthe boltsB'. The loops l8'may thereupon be readily :applied to thespools H], the different supporting means being positioned of course toplace the strips of canvas under a desired degree of tension. The

angularity of the slats may be readily changed to any desired positionby operation of any one of them.

The slats naturally are positioned and dimensioned in such a manner thatwhen in horizontal position they are evenly spaced and that when tiltedto an extreme position they will slightly overlap. A certain amount ofcontrol over differential tilting may be exercised by proper selectionof the spools 19, the diameter of which should be considerably less thanthe width of each individual slat. When thus selected, as shown in thedrawing, any tilting effect will be accompanied by a tapering effectwhich causes the tilting angle of the slats to progressively increasefrom the top member towards the bottom member so that in case of extremetilting movement the lower portion of the assembly will close in advanceof the upper portion, making the lower substantially solid while leavingthe upper portion slightly open for ventilating purposes. Thisdifferentiation in the tilting angle of the different slats may beincreased or lessened by proper selection of the spools 19. It isapparent that if the diameter of the spools l9 were the same as thewidth of the slats there would be no such differentiation.

I claim:

1. A ventilated wall comprising spaced upper and lower frame members, aslat having a shaft mounted fixedly upon the upper face thereof,brackets fixed upon the upper frame member and having the shaftrevolvably mounted therein, opposing strips of canvas suspended fromopposing edges of the slat, a series of additional slats supportedbetween the strips of canvas in vertically spaced relation and parallelto the first slat when the latter is in horizontal position, the stripsof canvas extending below the lowermost slat to form loops underneaththe same, spools seated in the loops, and means for securing the spoolsupon the lower frame member to maintain the strips of canvas undertension, the spools having a diameter smaller than the width of thefirst slat to cause the other slats to tilt through angles progressivelyincreasing from top to bottom when the first slat is tilted.

2. A ventilated wall comprising spaced upper and lower frame members, ashaft revolvably mounted underneath the upper frame members,

opposing strips of canvas suspended from the shaft, an upper slatdisposed between the strips of canvas near the shaft and secured fortilting movement with the shaft, a series of additional slats supportedbetween the strips of canvas in vertical spaced relation and parallel tothe first slat when the latter is in horizontal position, the strips ofcanvas extending below the lowermost slat to form'loops underneath thesame, spools seated in the loops, and means for securing the spools uponthe lower frame member to maintain the strips under tension, the spoolshaving a diameter smaller than the width of the first slat to cause theother slats to tilt through angles progressively increasing from top tobottom when the first slat is tilted.

3. A ventilated wall comprising space-cl upper and lower frame members,a slat suspended from the upper frame member with freedom of tiltingmotion, opposing strips of canvas suspended from opposing edges of theslat, a series of additional slats supported between the strips ofcanvas in vertical spaced relation and parallel to the first slat whenthe latter is in horizontal position, the strips of canvas extendingbelow the lowermost slat to form loops underneath the same, spoolsseated in-the loops, and means for securing the spools upon the lowerframe member to maintain the strips under tension, the spools having adiameter smaller than the width of the first slat to cause the otherslats to tilt through angles progressively increasing from top to bottomwhen the first slat is tilted.

WILLIAM L. DAVIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 289,176 Teuteberg Nov. 27, 1883444,302 Niss Jan. 6, 1891 580,990 Pease Apr. 20, 1897 1,340,252Rasmussen May 18, 1920 1,706,338 Workman Mar. 19, 1929 2,103,788Mohrfeld so. 28, 1937 2,207,605 Wolfe July 9, 1940 2,276,425 SlatteryMar. 17,1942

